I'll Be
by bri1216
Summary: A short oneshot. Dean needs to learn that he can't always be the protector...


The rain fell lightly, kissing the cheeks of the man hovering over the grave, almost looking as if he were crying. He sighed and wiped a hand across his face. Kneeling down. He traced a calloused hand over the tombstone.

Samuel Winchester 1983-2006

My brother, My best friend

My reason for living.

A sob escaped the elder brother's lips as the walls crumbled. Hot tears blended with the soft rain that rolled down his chiseled face. "I'm sorry, Sammy." He whispered.

Thunder rumbled in the distance, threatening the earth as it shook the skies. He glared at the clouds and sighed. "I should've tried harder to save you."

"_Sam!" Dean shouted, glancing wildly around for his brother._

"_Dean! Over here!"_

_Dean followed his brother's voice and found him tied to a tree, blood trickling down the side of his face. "Come on Sammy." He began loosening the knots in the rope when he heard a twig snap behind him._

_Wheeling around, he came face to face with the demon and caught it's black gaze. He raised the gun but with the flick of it's wrist, he was thrown against a tree and it held him there. Dean struggled and tried to pull out of the invisible vices that held him._

"_Well this is fun." It smiled. "You know, only wanted him but now I might as well take advantage of two for the price of one."_

"_If you so much as touch a hair on his head, I swear I'll-"_

"_You'll what? You're rather incapable of doing much of anything right now. Besides, my intent isn't to hurt him. It's to kill him; pick his bones clean. And make you watch every second of it." It sneered and smiled when Dean hung his head. _

"_Let him go. Take me."_

"_I don't want you!" it snarled. Turning to Sam, it cupped his face in it's knarled hands. "Your brother wants me to spare your life in exchange for his. What do you think?" it flashed Sam a smile._

_Sam stretched his neck and looked at Dean who furiously bobbed his head up and down. 'Please Sammy, do it.' He thought._

"_Go to Hell." Sam growled, eyeing the Demon._

"_Been there, done that. I'll take that as a no, by the way." He tore Sam's shirt off and placed a claw on the ripples in his abdomen. "Well at least he tried." He scraped his finger down the muscles and ripped at the skin. Sam's agonized screams rang throughout the dense forest and Dean hopelessly pulled against his restraints again._

"_Sam!" he pulled once more. Craning his neck, he glimpsed beyond the creature and gasped. His brother had stopped moving and crimson blood gushed from so many places, you couldn't see where it started. "Sammy!"_

"Sammy!"

Sam was startled awake as Dean landed on the floor in a tangle of sheets. Sam rolled out of bed and towards his brother who was still thrashing in his sleep. He heaved forward as tears rolled down his cheeks.

"Dean!" Sam placed his brother's back against the bed frame and squeezed his shoulders. "Dean, come on man, wake up." He surged forward again, his head crashing into Sam's shoulder, and his eyes popped open. His hazel eyes searched Sam frantically as his breathing rapidly heaved in his lungs. He put a hand on his head and his eyes pooled with tears.

"Hey. You ok?" Sam asked, brushing a hand across the tear-stained cheek of the man beside him.

A choked sob was his answer and Dean drew his knees close to his chest and put his forehead on them. "I'm sorry I didn't protect you, Sammy." He whispered brokenly.

"Dean…" Sam put a hand on the back of his brother's neck and rubbed it gently, surprised at the heat that radiated off of it. "You feel like you have a fever. Are you ok?"

"No." he began trembling slightly. "Oh God, what's Dad gonna say when he finds out I killed you?"

"Dean. I'm right here, man." Sam rubbed harder into the tense muscles in Dean's neck. "Can you feel that?" Dean nodded silently. "That's because I'm here. I'm not dead."

"You're really ok?" Dean's eyes glistened and two more tears fell. Sam nodded and pulled Dean towards him, letting his older brother's head fall onto his chest. "I can hear your heartbeat." He whispered.

Sam smiled softly and began rubbing circles onto Dean's back. "Of course you can." He felt his shirt slowly growing moist as Dean's long held tears were released. "What happened?"

Dean shuttered involuntarily and pressed himself closer to his brother. A sob escaped and Sam wrapped his arms tighter around Dean's shoulders.

"Ok." He whispered into his ear, worried at how hot Dean's body was. "It's ok." He rocked Dean gently and felt his breaths begin to even out. Sam blinked back the moisture that clouded his vision. Watching Dean crumble and knowing he was somehow the cause of it made him want to breakdown. He looked down at Dean as he drifted to sleep, safe and comfortable in his brother's long arms.

For the first time in his life, Dean Winchester fell asleep in his baby brother's arms. Sam reached up onto his bed and took the comforter down. Wrapping it around Dean, he positioned himself against the side of the bed and closed his arms securely around his brother's waist.

He knew in the morning, he'd force medicine into Dean if he still had a fever. He knew that Dean would deny ever crying or ever showing weakness, if he even remembered that it had happened. He knew that Dean would feel ashamed to be sleeping in Sam's arms. But he also knew that Dean needed him right now. And that was all that mattered.

Sam exhaled, his breath ruffling Dean's short hair, and closed his eyes. _'Our lives are so screwed up.'_ He thought as he drifted off to sleep.


End file.
